How many times have you protested to your friends that your miniatures are works of art, not toy soldiers?

No I haven’t either, but if you do now you can point at the artwork of American artist Kris Kuksi and yell “See! I told you!”

Intricate, disturbing and full of religious and mythological imagery, Kris Kuksi’s sculptures have been praised by many, with examples in the possession of such famous figures as Guillermo Del Torro. If your art is owned by the director of films like The Devil’s Back Bone and The Orphanage than you know it’s creepy.

But what could these great sculptures be made from? Well look closely kiddies.

That’s right this sculpture is made of a whole plethora of miniatures, including ones from Napoleonic and World War kits.

In the sculptures you can find miniatures of all shapes and sizes re-sculpted and positioned to make up this intricate and initially chaotic work of genius.

All this just goes to show that miniatures can be used for so much more than just playing games with. If you have the imagination and the time it takes to make something like this.

Kris Kukri says of his work that “he hopes that his art exposes the fallacies of Man, unveiling a new level of awareness to the viewer.”

I applaud him for his bizarre brilliance and for bringing our proud little hobby/obsession into the realms of art. Personally, I think we should get one of his pieces for the office. We could put it in the waiting room to frighten off door-to-door salesmen. Or we could just get the Church Tank.

Each of these pieces provokes me in some way, and that’s what art is supposed to do. These pieces are really steeped in a kind of post-modern sublimity….they are endlessly referential, terrible to behold, but also beautiful in their own way. Moments of vulnerability and sadness foregrounded on a frame of endless signs and signifies. Way too much going on for my tiny little brain to process….the images pull at the frame as though it can’t contain them. Images compete and clash, all looking to hold your attention for one brief moment. It really speaks to the way we experience the modern world, but at the same time, the colors shapes and themes harken back to classical art. Absolutely stunning….I could talk about this all day.

Oh I know Kris Kuksi from 5 years ago and yes, is totally amazing. The way he combine Tank Heads with Victoria/Roman/Austrian soldiers militaria + all of those romatic statues. Every collage is like a complete story, many snapshots of it in one big whole.

And i think the Imperium will love to have the church one . And don’t forget the meaning, he wants to tell us something not just visual chocolate.

I find these works impressive. Very nice. They are movilizing, what I believe every art piece should do. I understand different artist are apreciated by different peopple, then this one is great for me. And the almost monochromic style is part of this special effect. There’s no need for color, it’s enough like that. There is no colour in what the artist wants to tell us, or maybe his view is grey: as far from black as it could be from white. Excellent.

I don’t know much about art but I can say I was in awe and wonder upon first seeing this. The level of work that must have gone into making each as well as a the felling your looking at something with purpose, just made my eyes bulge out.

Kuksi is one of the few modern artists I like and one of the very few mixed media artists with any real talent. Sort of like John Blanche meets HR Giger in diorama form. His works also don’t require the layers of pretentious wank that many modern artists do, where you are left asking “WTF is it?” and someone has to explain while you politely nod and wondering if the artist gave their toddler LSD and some art supplies.